Cupressus atlantica Gaussen
C. sempervirens var. atlantica (Gaussen) Silba, C. dupreziana subsp. atlantica (Gaussen) Silba, C. dupreziana var. atlantica (Gaussen) Silba
Eng.: Moroccan cypress. Spa.: Ciprés del Atlas. Fre.: Cyprès de l’Atlas. Ara.: Saru, sro al Atlas, azel, azil, arella.
Evergreen tree, monoecious, up to 30 m in height, of conical shape. Trunk straight of 1 m or more in diameter, with greyish bark, fibrous and striated longitudinally. Branches arise perpendicularly to the stem, ± extended around the tree, slightly upright. Not much of a polymorphic species, resembles C. sempervirens f. horizontalis (Mill.) Voos, but its branches are usually more erect and foliage colour is much lighter. Branchlets covered in squamiform, very small leaves (0.5-1 mm), triangular, very oppressed, green-whitish in colour, ashy, glaucous. Male cones ovoid (3-6 mm), solitary at the end of the branchlets. Female cones or strobili spherical (18-25 mm), brown-greyish in colour with with 8-12 peltate scales with a small blunt central mucro. Seeds flattened, with a very narrow wing.
Flowering:
In spring.
Fruiting:
In autumn of the following year and seed dissemination occurs after the third year.
Habitat:
On very diverse substrates, of medium and high mountain (900-2,220 m), in semiarid to subhumid bioclimate, in thermomediterranean and mesomediterranean belts.
Distribution:
Endemic to the northern slope of the western central High Atlas, where it forms forests, generally very opened, of considerable extension. Its distribution is restricted to the region of High Nfiss (High Gundafa in some texts) mainly on the northern slope of Tizi-n-Test (although the southern slope also has at least a dozen small populations).
Observations:
This atlasic species was initially under C. sempervirens and thus appears in the two main Moroccan classics: Catalogue des plantes du Maroc (1931) and Flore de l’Afrique du Nord (1952). However, a series of differences including the size of the tree, the colour of the leaves or the shape, size and number of cone scales, made Gaussen define it as C. marocana, later as C. atlantica. Currently it tends to be subordinated within C. dupreziana, as a variety or subspecies (The Plant List, IUCN Red List).
In the early Holocene, cypresses were much more widespread in North Africa but logging, overgrazing and widespread desertification that affected the area in the last thousands of years made them disappear from large areas. Currently, a detailed genetic study of the remaining populations (western High Atlas, central Sahara, Tunisian Dorsal and Mount Akhdar) should be performed; and all of them should be efficiently protected from logging and grazing (though these seem sustainable traditional uses, when certain species are in a critical situation and occupy small areas, they will disappear if not properly protected).
Conservation status:
In the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species it is listed at a global level as Endangered (EN) (Abdoun, et al. 2013). These authors group this species with C. dupreziana into the one species separated into two varieties, calling the Moroccan Atlas cypresses as C. dupreziana var. atlantica, which Gardner & Griffiths (2013) list as Critically Endangered (CR). In Morocco it is included in its List of native species that need authorization for commercial use (Law 29-2005 and Decree 2-12-484 of 21-May-2015).